1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to anti-counterfeit detection (ACD) of currency or negotiable securities, and more particularly, to such detection as used in inexpensive xerographic copiers and printers for personal computers (PC).
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
ACD hardware and software is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,144, hereby incorporated by reference.
In high-end copiers and printers, the cost of providing a hardware solution for ACD is not a major factor. However, in low-end products, a hardware addition, e.g., costing $100.00, may double the cost of the device. Similarly, in low-end multifunction, e.g. copier, printer and facsimile, machines which have a scanner, the scanner provides a quick first copy out time by scanning and printing at the same time. In such machines, providing ACD can also be expensive. In particular, in order to accomplish this, internal buffers will have to be maintained which capture the high resolution data to delay printing so that even partial printing is avoided. These size of these buffers will be dictated by the amount of data needed by the ACD algorithms.
It is therefore desirable to have a method and an apparatus for performing ACD that is inexpensive.